Author: ordinarilyjustme

So new ventures have come around again, which means we are moving again as well. Not to far this time, just about an hour (give or take with traffic) from where we are now. No epic moves this time and yet, it feels more profound than previous moves, and here’s why;

1.) We are moving from our two bedroom apt into a 6 bedroom house

2.) Within this 6 bedroom house there are other people who already live there. So Roommate situation–of which I have no experience save my hubby and daughter

3.) Of the 5 adults that live there, only one is known to us

4.) There are children–Thankfully though, the small one will be moving out with his mother and her Fiance so don’t have to deal with that bit of energy. The older one is my friends son and he will be going to the U.S. Coast Guard come August so that is something I’m not worried about either

5.) One of the roommates appears to be a shut in–only in that he stays in his room alot when not at work. I only have my hubby’s word on it as I haven’t been over long enough to witness this myself.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone seems real nice. But for a 40 something who has always lived on their own or only with their family-well, that will take some getting used to. In addition, I will be looking for a new job and once had will be settling into that new routine as well. Hence the adventure.

Oh, and did I mention that we are introducing our 2 dogs and 1 cat to a new very very large Great Dane/Mastiff mix? I am sooo looking forward to this challenge .

Here is what I hope will happen:

Here is what I fear will happen:

No, I don’t have small chihuahua’s but I think the pictures are clear.

Don’t worry. I have read many articles on how to introduce pets into new homes. We are working on this. I shall let you all know how it goes. Wish us luck!

OJM

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I love to watch the occasional movie and more so to discuss them with my friends or even a random stranger I may meet in the store. My favorite part of working at the now closed Blockbuster Video (BV)was being able to help people find a video(s) to watch. Discussing the intricacies of an actor/actress and how well they did or how well rendered the special effects and CGI were-even whether or not the storyline was good or if it could have used some help.

My greatest skill was in picking out that perfect movie for someone without giving away the plot. Tell me what you like and chances are, I can pick you out a winner. It made for great repeat business. Since BV is no longer open I find I no longer have those great conversations. Or meet as many interesting people on a day to day business, where one conversation can lead to a lasting friendship.

That being said, I still like to share. Since I rarely go to the theaters anymore (too expensive) I stick to Netflix(NF) primarily and other times will rent from Redbox (RB). This past week I took some time away from my crafts and watched 5 movies, 4 from our local Redbox (RB) and 1 from Netflix(NF). You read right, 5 movies over one weekend. If that is nothing for you, great, but for me, well, it has been awhile since I have binge watched movies in that large a quantity. In fact, it has been a while since I have actually watched a movie(shh, don’t tell anyone).

I would have to say that my movie tastes are hardcore action, horror (not slasher), comedy, cartoons, chick flicks. Not so much into drama, but have watched a few. How I rate a movie is:

Gotta buy it–it was fantastic

Good- I would watch it again

Meh-I had nothing better to do and was too lazy to change the channel

Disappointing-Good points but mostly my expectations weren’t met

Not even if it was free–truly it was that bad.

So, now you have my rating system. It’s not elaborate, but effective I think. Nearly all descriptions of movies are pulled from IMBD (unless otherwise noted). So without further ado, here is my review of the 5 moves I watched:

When twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors.

The actors did their jobs. Kinda. I was expecting Aliens, which were there, and awesomely done. But the description, not to mention the previews, were misleading. The tempo of the movie was slow with a few inserts that went quickly–almost too quickly. I think the problem was that a) they tried to put too much in a limited amount of time-there was potential for a longer movie (I am thankful it wasn’t though) b) Halfway through the script someone forgot what type of movie they were writing c) With an A List Cast, I was expecting more.

Forest Whitaker– was great in his role–it was good to see him in a non-drama movie again.

Amy Adams–I usually like her, I would even go so far as to say I am a fan and look for her movies, but the character she played was too downplayed. She could have been better.

Jack Reacher must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name. On the run as a fugitive from the law, Reacher uncovers a potential secret from his past that could change his life forever.

Let’s start out by saying that the first Reacher movie was Meh, but I thought I would give it another try. It far exceeded my expectations-I had very low ones going into this movie.

More action

better written

better acting

It’s a lot simpler than the other review I gave but it’s not something I feel I need to go indepth for. I would definitely watch it again when it comes to NF. It wasn’t slow and I was definitely engaged.

Tom Cruise–He can definitely still act. I have grown up watching him and while I think he’s a little out there, I cannot fault his acting skills.

Colbie Smulders- I was surprised at this role for her. I had only seen her in HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER so seeing her in such an active role was different but nice. It is good to see she is expanding her range (after my husband proofed it he pointed out she was also in the Avengers/Captain America movies-I guess I will have to go back and watch :))

Overall cast- While I didn’t really recognize the rest of the ensemble, I cannot find fault with any one person’s ability to act. The cast came together nicely to provide an entertaining movie.

————————————————————————

TARZAN– Gotta buy it (though I think that has something to do with his abs) otherwise it would definitely fit in the realm of GOOD

Tarzan, having acclimated to life in London, is called back to his former home in the jungle to investigate the activities at a mining encampment.

I have to say that I was taken by surprise by this one. I was expecting a remake with the same old story. What I got:

Action–lots of it

New story line

Great Acting

Romance without the naked sex scenes

Full engagement

The scenery was exceptionally good, not too much apparent CGI, great bad guys. Once it started I was engaged and it definitely wasn’t something that you ever have to have a knowledge of Tarzan to follow along with. The native people were depicted as really smart and capable, which is something not often done. Kudos to the writers and staff who did that.

Alexander Skarsgard– Glad that his acting ability isn’t solely based on his looks (still like those abs). I enjoyed that fact that Skargard shares the screen with his co-stars and wasn’t the focal point in every scene. He did a great job with his character.

Margot Robbie–Someone to watch for. She wasn’t the normal weak heroine we are used to encountering with this story. She definitely lives up to being the wife of Tarzan in the film.

Samuel Jackson-I didn’t know he was in the film but like the role that he played and the fact that there didn’t seem a whole lot of sarcasm tied to this character

Djimon Hounsou-I love this actor. I have seen him in many things and have yet to be disappointed. He owned this character and made me happy to have watched the film.

Christoph Waltz-I have to say I truly liked this quiet menace. He did justice to his character. Does this man ever play a good guy?

All told, the entire cast of people did an awesome job. I wanted to restart the DVD when it was over and watch it again (and not because of Skarsgards’ Abs either!)It was a movie I went into not expecting to enjoy much of it, but was thoroughly caught up in the moment.

As a math savant un-cooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities and the body count starts to rise.

Before I go any further I will have to say I am not a Ben Affleck fan. I just don’t think he is that great an actor. It was my Husbands turn to pick and this is what he wanted to watch. That being said there are a couple of movies of his that I have liked and now I can add another. The writing was great and the movie flowed. There was a moment where it could have ended up in the MEH file but it was brief. Overall a pretty good movie.

Action

Story line

Not a normal romance

There was a ton of action and gun play in this movie which were the best parts. If you are looking for action that moves through the story line this is it. The story line was kept simple without overdoing it too much and there is even a surprise at the end if you were paying attention throughout the film. The possibility of a romance was there but they didn’t ruin the movie by making it one. I would definitely watch it again, even with the little bit of MEH that was there.–Please note that Asperger’s’ is a real disease and is not treatable like in the movie! Find out more by clicking on this link :ASPERGER SYNDROME

Ben Affleck- Did a good job. This role seemed to fit him better than most

Anna Kendrick-Still on the fence about this actress, but I liked her in this. She did her character good, which was playing the damsel in distress

J.K.Simmons-He did an excellent job with this character. Didn’t know until the end whether he was a good guy or not

Jon Bernthal- had only seen him in THE WALKING DEAD before this, so don’t know much about this actor. I did like his portrayal of this character.

John Lithgow- It was a pleasant surprise to see him in a movie. Does the man ever age? He played his character quite well. I thought his role was obvious but let me know if you catch on in the beginning – didn’t get it until the end

Cynthia Addai-Robinson- Another up and coming actress. I enjoyed her role as much as anyone else’s. I will look forward to any other movies she might be in.

Two down-on-their-luck guys decide to fake their own deaths and start over with new identities, only to find the people they’re pretending to be are in even deeper trouble.

I saved the best one for last. It was hilarious! And a little surprising.

Nudity and sex-For an Adam Sandler movie there are usually hints and intonations suggesting nudity and there is definitely language. This one went further–So if you’re used to his humor, be prepared-he pushed the envelope!

Comedy

Action

There was a story which was good, but don’t expect anything deep. It was fun, and surprising. When I watch a Sandler film, I have an expectation of a certain type of humor. I won’t say anymore, but let me know what you think.

I am limiting the Actor list to the ones I laughed at the hardest.

Adam Sandler- Funny as always. Even though it was a comedy, it seemed a little different. My opinion only of course.

David Spade-Like Affleck, not a big fan but he did really good in this.

Luis Guzman-Good to see him in another comedy. I think he is ever the funny person

That’s it for this review. I know it’s a bit wordy, but I see it as having a written conversation. Feel free to commit, I look forward to it 🙂

BTW-I am not in any way endorsed by Redbox or Netflix or any of their subsidiaries. I just like letting people know where I obtain my sources 🙂

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What a crazy week! Software updates, temporary house hunting, cooking, pets etc.
A lot of good excuses I am sure, but excuses all the same. There were moments where I didn’t have to watch and episode of Last Man Standing or could taken a break from watching 5 movies this weekend. In short, I didn’t get it done. What I did do however, was some research for my next post which will be a run down ( or as most would call it, a “critique”) of those said 5 movies. In addition I will also be critiquing those recipes used for this weeks meal plans (this will be done in a separate post) and possibly what might be/not be happening in my life. So, look forward to it in the next week-It will be a long one. I did watch 5 movies after all…

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I realized that after accidentally switching my theme, that I will need to become more educated in this whole blog-o-sphere theme thingy. Yes, I am calling it a thingy, until I learn more that is.

The point of this short is to say that we are never to old to learn. Not that I am–old that is, but I am pushing the hill and while not on top yet, I don’t really want to get there not knowing how this works. It’s not as hard for me as others–I used to be a computer/software geek (still am at times)–but I have been away from it for some time now (read 10+ years) so getting back into the swing of things is a bit more difficult than I anticipated. This is an easy fix though, as all I need is one of those WordPress for Dummies books or even a class at the local library. If I can find neither, then I can always fall back on YouTube and friends and at some point become expert in the subject. At which point, I can then write about and teach others.

Sounds like a strong plan to me. So wish me luck, and if you have something to add, Please do.

I will look for your response. For now, I’m out to lunch (literally).

OJM

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Simone Weil in 1921.Notebooks of Simone Weil. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1956Simone Weil (February 3,1909 – August 24,1943). French philosopher, anarchist, feminist, christian mystic. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Weil joined a French-speaking unit of an anarchist militia and fought the fascists. In 1942, she helped her family to safety in the U.S.A, and…

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Recently my husband and I started cooking again, and it started with me watching a youtube video of Bobby Parrish https://youtu.be/YYYNhFL3llo creating one of the most flavorful dishes I have ever had the opportunity to experience.

We decided to duplicate the recipe as well as one other and some how made it turn out right! Well, most of it anyway. We miscalculated on the type of lentils to get and so that part of our experiment was an epic fail–BUT we were able to use couscous set aside for another dish instead and it turned out all right.

I posted the pics up on Youtube as well with many technical difficulties. Since I felt it was important to post something I decided to go ahead with what I had, with the promise to later go back and fix it. What was the problem you ask? Well, a while ago my husband bought a microphone for another project. The microphone sat in the box for months until this project came along and I decided to use it. Only problem was that it was not a plug n play device. It requires more equipment. Someone didn’t read the smaller print when they purchased it. Hey, we all make mistakes :). That lead to no sound or recording to publish with the slideshow and a lack of conversion software for alternative methods. It’s ok. I am learning and am having a blast doing so. So, until then, I have all this learning time on my hands. As well as cooking, sewing, gardening, preparing for gardening…etc…So, this is what I am up to. How about you?

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This isn’t a ‘how to’ blog today, but more of a ‘what the heck’ and ‘someone please PLEASE HELP ME’ plea. The problem, low level hoarding…

So do you ever find yourself uncomfortable in your own surroundings? Like, there is way more crap and accumulated clutter around you then you know what to do with let alone know how to deal with it? If so I am soliciting advice on how to get rid of it all. I want to go back down to a bare bones, Spartan existence with room for everything I have and more space as well. I want to know what it is like to not have every corner of my apartment filled with things I am unable to use because I have run out of space to use them.

Point in sight, I have a fire place with boxes and a rolling computer desk and did I mention boxes of stuff that I cannot use because there is no place in which I can unpack said boxes and use it. Then there is the never ending quandary of if I should just get rid of it all so I can have the space but then what would I do, I got all this stuff to begin with to use in this space and now I have no space for it. It’s like a never stopping revolving door. And on top of all of that I cannot use the fireplace 🙂

So, what to do, what to do. I could get rid of everything and just enjoy the empty space. I could organize said space and make a go of sharing and putting away stuff at the end of each session–but then I have to worry about if I leave in the middle of a project and not being able to do that.

So.

I seek solutions. I am certain it is quite simple. I just need to find it.

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Now before we go forward, I don’t want you to read this as negativity. We all know how much of it is out there and I am not trying to add to it. This is more of an intellectual discussion I had with myself about why I never seem to reach my goals. It may sound/read negative to start, but if you read through the rest of it (yes, all the way to the end) then perhaps you will find it more positive as well as a worthwhile read. So here goes.

January is as good a time as any other to go back and review things in one’s life. A chance to see where one has once been, to make some changes, or plans and have another go at things. Some of these things are the same, just a different context and others are new ventures. I would like to focus, for a moment, on new ventures, because I think that being a new year, so many people set goals for new ones. That is good. Sometimes, it is even needed. My only suggestion (learned the hard way of course) is to make sure that all those old goals and ventures from the year before that may have been left un-accomplished are finished or easily thrown away first. Anytime a new venture is started, you don’t want old baggage weighing you down, causing you to lose momentum.

With that being said, I would like to go back to old goals of years past which have been lurking in the shadows, either forgotten, misplaced or simply set aside in favor of the bright new shiny toys (read goals) to be had. There are the usual; lose weight, get fit, eat better yada yada yada…Then there are others, ones that get renewed every year ( or every other) that never seem to get quite accomplished. Lessons to better ourselves, to go on that trip you’ve always wanted to take, to put yourself out there a little more than is comfortable.

There is nothing wrong with any of the above. Except that I see so many people fail. There are some successes of course-and I will get to those later–but for most of us, we fail to achieve these goals. Let me repeat that, WE FAIL. Not because the goals are insurmountable. Some are not even that large. They can be quite simple. But for some reason, we cannot seem to quite get there.

So what is the problem? Why do we keep failing? The answer is quite simple, and yet very hard to do. The answer, is that we fail to set our goals according to our current circumstances. For instance, If we set a goal to go to Europe for a week-long vacation in the summer, it sounds great and fun. Like something that can easily be done. A question that should be asked before setting this goal, is, if I want to go to Europe for a week this summer (6 months away) will it be possible to afford it? Get time off of work? Have someone over to house sit, etc. I made a plan to go on a group trip to Greece 3 years ago with 3 of my friends and you guess what? It never happened. Why? because we had a goal to do something but didn’t think of everything that would be needed to attain this goal. We didn’t have the money, we couldn’t co-ordinate our schedules, we didn’t plan it out. So, in the end, we didn’t go. You need a plan people!

Not for everything, of course. After all, you don’t want to kill the spontaneity of a given moment, but you want to be able to have those moments. So, you have to plan. Note, I am using a vacation to far off lands because at some point a lot of people plan on at least one big trip in their life. So below are some questions that should be asked:

Am I financially in a spot to go on a big trip in 6 months? Am I able to go in 6 months? Is everyone involved able to go at that same time? Is there anything special we will need for the destination we are traveling?

If the answer is YES to all of the above, then great, you will be able to go at your designated time and much love to you. However, if you are like me and all my other working poor friends, you might need to revise.

Money is always a big one, but perhaps the goal can be to save up/earn enough money to get you there the year after. Sometimes, vacations cannot be had when you want to go, so perhaps you can bargain with the employer a year in advance for that time off vs the 6 month notice you might be asking for (yes, a whole year in advance–I have an employer who likes to ask us to give him our request for the whole year at the start of January and sometimes even the end of December)-in addition this gives everyone a chance in the group to plan. And lastly, special items. Can we talk about vaccines? language classes. Bikinis? You get my drift, at least I hope you do. No land mass hopping without the proper planning.

I think somewhere in all this writing my point got lost so here it is again: When setting a goal, in order to be successful, you need to first take stalk, plan and then, if necessary revise and lastly and the most fun part, implement it. If your goals are out of sink of where you are at or able to get accomplished, you will fail. Instead of that, set goals you can achieve. Start out small if you have to, and then grow bigger.

My goal is to become a better and more consistant blogger/writer. I can say I am going to sit down and write an award winning novel in one weekend, however, I know myself a little better that that. So I am starting small. Really small. Like as in 15 minutes a day, I have time to write, and there is at least once a week that I can post. Then when I can do that consistantly, I can do a little more, but never not so much that I feel overwhelmed or out of control and anxiety ridden over something that should be fun. I too want to be successful.

So, I will be here 15 minutes at a time.

If you are working on your new year’s goals, tell me about them. I would love to hear what people are doing!

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Welcome back toSunday Stealingwhich originated onWTIT: The Blogauthored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim’s post. (It’s our way of saying “Thanks!”) We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme’s best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme.

Let’s go!!!

OLOGY Meme

MOUTHOLOGY

What is your least favorite salad dressing? Dorothy LynchWhat is your least favorite fast food restaurant? Burger KingWhat is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Any place with good service and even better foodOn average, what would cause you to flirt with the server? If they had pretty eyes and I wasn’t sitting across from my husband 🙂What food could you eat every day just to “get along”? Burritos–they got everything!What pizza toppings would make you hurl? A combo of brussel sprouts and really bad goat cheese.What food is likely to get you “in the mood…”? Hehehe–Can’t tell people that, Certain people read my blog and they don’t need to know.What is your favorite type of gum to get off your shoe? Once out of the mouth it ceases to be a favorite, however, the one that’s easiest to remove would be the answer.

TECHNOLOGY Number of contacts you’d never let your significant other see on your cell phone? 0–Sorry no mystery here. at least in this departmentNumber of contacts in your email address book that are exes? 0–They’re exes for a reason.Do you judge others about the wallpaper on their computer? If it’s not eye catching, has Hello Kitty, or the windows logo back ground then yes, I absolutely will judge them !What is your favorite technology from the past that is now obsolete?hmmmm, Atari?Do you have stuff on your computer that you’d never want someone to see? Stuff I have that I don’t want others to see, well, no, not on my computers at least!

BIOLOGY Are you right-handed or left-handed? I am ambidextrous so both!Do you like your smile? Only when it scares people and causes them to back away from me 😀What’s your best feature? I have many. Can you be a little more specific?Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Hair?!!Which of your five senses do you think is keenest? Taste, smell possible touch.When was the last time you had a cavity? Since I still have them I couldn’t tell you 😛What is the heaviest item you lifted last? A book case at work. Which I shouldn’t have been doing but it was in my way.Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Nope. I think I am too stubborn to let go of even a moment of control to something so innocuous as to be knocked unconscious.

BULLCRAPOLOGY If you could, would you wanna know the day you were going to die? I always go to bed assuming I won’t wake up, so it wouldn’t really matter, would it?Is love for real? Love is only as real as the person who is experiencing it wishes it to be.If you could change your first name, what would you change it to? For reasons of possible escapes, I cannot divulge that information. Cause, you never know right?What color do you think looks best on you? Black.Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? I once ate a crayon–it’s a long story but it wasn’t on purpose and it tasted like crap.Have you ever saved someone’s life? YesHas someone ever saved yours? Yes

DAREOLOGY Would you walk naked down a public street for $100,000? No–I would need more money to do that.Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? Sure?Would you cut off one of your little fingers for $200,000? No. I like all my digits.Would you never blog again for $50,000? Define blog.Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? Yes.Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? no–I can’t even get through a little on my food much less a whole bottle.Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000? Absolutely!

DUMBOLOGY What is in your left pocket? I have no pocketsDo you have hardwood or carpet in your house? CarpetDo you sit or stand in the shower? Why would you sit in a shower? Isn’t that defeating the purpose?Could you live with roommates? I live with a husband and a child so I am thinking yes.How many pairs of flip flops do you own? 0Where were you born? Here on the good old planet of Earth (Yearth to some alien species)Last time you had a run-in with the cops? Ummm, never. I don’t know if I should celebrate that or re-evaluate my life.What do you want to be when you grow up? Sadly, I still haven’t decided

RANDOMOLOGY First place you went this morning? The toilet?What can you not wait to do? Go on a vacation/Have a house of my ownWhat’s the last movie you saw? The Martian–half way through the DVD stopped working so not sure if it really counts.When was the last time you got caught cheating? I don’t cheat so not an applicable question. Are you a sexy person? I have moments were I am down right scary in my sexiness. but those are rare. Mostly I am just me, which if good enough for well, me 🙂Now that the survey’s (or meme) done what are you going to do?Go to bed, this meme was exhausting!

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It happens that way sometimes. You leave for a bit, either by choice or happenstance and you comeback expecting the same people to still be there, the same memes accessible or just the same bunch of goofy people to be there. Only to realize that they are not. It is sad, because it was for those same people/memes/goofy bunch that you returned. As I sit here listening to Meatloaf’s “You took the words right outta my mouth” I cannot help but feel the same way in regards to all my writing meme prompts. Well, what to do what to do. . .I think I shall go on a hunt myself and see if I cannot find something new/but with a touch of the old to ensnare me. OJM